Safe and Sound
by Tsukikami Moyizawa
Summary: District 14 tributes Klara Lau and Fey Chi are thrust into the wonderful and terrifying world of the Capitol and the Arena. This is almost completely OC, but it will follow the Hunger Games storyline and its main characters.


_I remember tears streaming down your face when I said "I'll never let you go."_

_When all those shadows almost killed your light._

_I remember you said "Don't leave me here alone."_

_But all that's dead and gone and past tonight._

My name is Klara Lau. I am from District 14, the medicine district. I'm told that in the past doctors used to make a lot of money. That's not true anymore. Not that all of us are doctors anyway. Only the richer ones are. Most of us are factory workers who just mass produce the medicine. I started working there with my older brother when I was six. My mom, well, she ran away to the Capitol a long time ago, and I don't even know who my father is. I'm 18 years old, and this is my last year in the reaping. My brother, Staley, made it through the entire time without once getting picked. Even though I couldn't even count how many times his name was in that glass bowl.

Staley zipped up the back of my white dress, and I straightened out his collar. He pulled me in for a bear hug. "Last time," he said. "Then we're safe."

He let go of my hand only when I had to go off into my group. They took my blood sample and sent me off. We stood there, in the town square, right outside the justice building, listening to the obnoxious Rorie go on about the Capitol and watching the propaganda video. The mentors, Torick and Sarai, sat by, pity and dread in their eyes. Rorie walked over to the girl's bowl, fishing her hand around, eventually picking one up and reading it carefully. "And the girl's tribute for District 14 is…

…Klara Lau!"

Numb, I stepped forward as everyone else stepped back. I heard Staley in the back shout out. "No! Not my sister!" Peacekeepers ran forward to stop him as he struggled to get through the crowd. I turned around and saw him, face contorted with rage and fear. It was contagious. I started to run towards him. "Staley!" I felt tears start pouring down my face, and my voice cracked when I called out to him. Peacekeepers threw themselves in front of me, pushing me back towards the stage. I fell silent as Rorie pulled me up to the microphone. The Peacekeepers had taken Staley elsewhere, and I couldn't see him anymore. Rorie called out the boy tribute's name. It wasn't someone I knew. His name was Fay Chi. He, like everyone in our district, had almond eyes, dark, straight hair, and olive skin. We looked similar to the District 11 people, but our ancestors were from a different part of what we're told was once called Asia. We shook hands, and they took us back into the Justice building.

I sat in that plushy room alone for five minutes before the door opened and my mother's old friend, the doctor who kept us alive, came in. "You don't deserve anything that's happened to you," he said. "And I wish there was something I could do. I'll make sure to send you medicine through Sarai when you need it. Don't you die, okay?"

I nodded, and he hugged me, handing me some sleeping pills for nights until the games started. Then he left.

Less than a minute later, Staley came storming in. He hugged me hard, like he hadn't since I was a little girl. "I would have volunteered," he whispered. He got down on his knees and held my arm, looking up into my eyes. I was 6, and just getting home from my first day in the factory when he last did that. "You listen to me, Klara. You have to win this. You can. You're strong. Don't worry about me; I'll be okay here. I'll be watching, and you just remember that I'll be placing my bets on you."

He took the necklace my father gave him and hung it around my neck. It was a thick silver chain with the symbol "护", which I was told meant "protect." I looked at it. "Staley, I can't take this. Dad gave it to you. I never even knew him." "And now I'm giving it to you. You have to be okay."

A Peacekeeper opened the door. "Time's up. Come on, kid."

Staley stood up and held me tight. "Don't let them change you," he said. The Peacekeepers started yelling at him to get out. Still he held on to me. I started bawling into his shirt. He was shaking from his own tears. The Peacekeepers grabbed him around the waist and started to drag him away from me. I screamed. "No! Staley! Please!"

Staley fought against them, reaching out to me and shouting, tears streaming down his face. "You'll be alright!" he said. "After this is over, you and I'll be safe and sound."

The door slammed shut.


End file.
